ζυγός
yoke
‘yoke’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Accusative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
1 verse where G2218 appears in the Nominative case in the Book of Matthew. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
Matthew
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
ζυγος (zygós) is a Greek noun most often rendered “yoke.” It first appears in Matthew 11:29. With 6 verses in 5 books, it is an uncommon word in the Greek New Testament. It concentrates in Matthew, which alone accounts for 33% of its uses. Ranging over 3 senses, it is not a single-sense word. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G2218 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 6
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 6 distinct verses.
- 5 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 5 of 27 New Testament books.
- #1,476
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Greek words (rank 1,476 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 6 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 6 distinct verses.
- Gospels 2 verses · 33%
- Pauline corpus 2 verses · 33%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 1 verse · 17%
- Johannine 1 verse · 17%
- Revelation 1 verse · 17%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Yoke 5×
- American Standard Version: Yoke 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Yoke 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Yoke 5×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G2218 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G2218 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G2218 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G2218 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 3 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- a yoke that is put on draught cattle
- metaph., used of any burden or bondage
- a balance, pair of scales
Word origin
Origin: "from the root of zeugnumi (to join, especially by a "yoke")"
From the root of ζεύγνυμι zeugnumi (to join especially by a yoke); a coupling that is (figuratively) servitude (a law or obligation ); also (literally) the beam of the balance (as connecting the scales): - pair of balances yoke.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 4 distinct written forms G2218 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| ζυγὸν zygòn | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Masculine | Acts 15:10 | 3 |
| ζυγόν zygón | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 11:29 | 1 |
| ζυγός zygós | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 11:30 | 1 |
| ζυγῷ zygō̂ | Noun, Dative, Singular, Masculine | Galatians 5:1 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G2218, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word ζυγος appears 47 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 43 verses in 14 books.
- 47
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 43
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 14 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 14 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Numbers 19:2 ζυγός
- Deuteronomy 21:3 ζυγός
- 2 Chronicles 10:4 ζυγός
- Job 6:2 ζυγός
- Psalms 2:3 ζυγός
- Proverbs 11:1 ζυγός
- Isaiah 5:18 ζυγός
- Jeremiah 2:20 ζυγός
- Lamentations 3:27 ζυγός
- Ezekiel 5:1 ζυγός
- Hosea 12:8 ζυγός
- Amos 8:5 ζυγός
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G2218) appears in the Greek Septuagint. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Numbers 19:2 ζυγός This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, [and] on which never came yoke.
- Deuteronomy 21:3 ζυγός and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn't been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke;
- 2 Chronicles 10:4 ζυγός Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.
- 2 Chronicles 10:9 ζυγός He said to them, What counsel give you, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that your father did put on us lighter?
- 2 Chronicles 10:10 ζυγός The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus shall you tell the people who spoke to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but make you it lighter to us; thus shall you say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.
- 2 Chronicles 10:11 ζυγός Now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I [will chastise you] with scorpions.
- 2 Chronicles 10:14 ζυγός and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I [will chastise you] with scorpions.
- Job 6:2 ζυγός "Oh that my anguish were weighed, And all my calamity laid in the balances!
- Job 31:6 ζυγός (Let me be weighed in an even balance, That God may know my integrity);
- Job 39:10 ζυγός Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?
- Psalms 2:3 ζυγός "Let's break their bonds apart, And cast away their cords from us."
- Psalms 61:10 ζυγός
- Proverbs 11:1 ζυγός A false balance is an abomination to Yahweh, But accurate weights are his delight.
- Proverbs 16:7 ζυγός When a man's ways please Yahweh, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- Proverbs 20:14 ζυγός "It's no good, it's no good," says the buyer; But when he is gone his way, then he boasts.
- Isaiah 5:18 ζυγός Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, And wickedness as with cart rope;
- Isaiah 9:3 ζυγός You have multiplied the nation, you have increased their joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
- Isaiah 10:27 ζυγός It shall happen in that day, that his burden shall depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed by reason of fatness.
- Isaiah 14:5 ζυγός Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers;
- Isaiah 14:25 ζυγός that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder.
- Isaiah 14:29 ζυγός Don't rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent's root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
- Isaiah 40:12 ζυγός Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the sky with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Isaiah 40:15 ζυγός Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: Behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.
- Isaiah 46:6 ζυγός Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down--yes, they worship.
- Isaiah 47:6 ζυγός I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; on the aged have you very heavily laid your yoke.
- Jeremiah 2:20 ζυγός For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not serve; for on every high hill and under every green tree you did bow yourself, playing the prostitute.
- Jeremiah 5:5 ζυγός I will get me to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
- Jeremiah 34:8 ζυγός The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;
- Jeremiah 34:11 ζυγός but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
- Jeremiah 35:2 ζυγός Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.
- Jeremiah 35:4 ζυγός and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.
- Jeremiah 35:11 ζυγός But it happened, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians; so we dwell at Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 35:14 ζυγός The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father's commandment: but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; and you have not listened to me.
- Jeremiah 37:8 ζυγός The Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city; and they shall take it, and burn it with fire.
- Jeremiah 39:10 ζυγός But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
- Lamentations 3:27 ζυγός It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
- Ezekiel 5:1 ζυγός You, son of man, take a sharp sword; [as] a barber's razor shall you take it to you, and shall cause it to pass on your head and on your beard: then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
- Ezekiel 34:27 ζυγός The tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
- Ezekiel 45:10 ζυγός You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
- Hosea 12:8 ζυγός Ephraim said, "Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won't find in me any iniquity that is sin."
- Amos 8:5 ζυγός Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, Making the ephah small, and the shekel large, And dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
- Micah 6:11 ζυγός Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights?
- Zephaniah 3:9 ζυγός For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on the name of Yahweh, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G2218) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
